Island Park swim canceled yet again

Because of a lack of participants, Island Park Mayor James Ruzicka was forced to once again cancel the village’s annual Labor Day Mile Swim, and it is unlikely that the decades-old tradition will be returning.

According to Ruzicka, only nine people signed up for this year’s swim. In 2009 the village was forced to cancel the other swimming races that had accompanied the centerpiece event, also due to a lack of entrants, keeping only the mile swim, in which there were more than 30 participants. Last year, however, only four swimmers signed up.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to be something that we’re going to be doing in the future,” said Ruzicka, who would have been the 10th entrant.

The swim has been a tradition in Island Park since the 1940s. And for many years it was not the only race the village held. There were a number of races of varying length, spanning two days, with awards presented in every event. While the swim had been called off in other years because of bad weather, last year was the first time in its history that it was the victim of a lack of interest.

“We had the school recreation program, and we had fliers go out to the school and everything,” Ruzicka said. “So it’s not like people didn’t know it existed. There just isn’t a lot of interest there anymore.”

Because of all the safety personnel that are needed for the event (village workers, Nassau County paramedics and more), it was deemed too expensive to stage for a field of fewer than a dozen. Ruzicka said that if 20 or more people had signed up, the swim would have been held.

This year, the timing of the event didn’t help. “With all the work that was going on in the village because of the storm,” Ruzicka explained, referring to Tropical Storm Irene, “I couldn’t max out all of our people again [on overtime].”

Henry “Mickey” Hastava, the village trustee who oversees beaches and recreation, echoed Ruzicka’s sentiments. “We have to get police boats from the county or the town, and it doesn’t pay for just nine people,” said Hastava, who has lived in Island Park for 75 years. “And it really makes me feel bad, but what are you going to do? You can’t force people. Now they’d rather sit in a room with a computer.”

According to Hastava, interest in Masone Beach — the village’s beach — increased this year, with more people buying beach tags than last year. But interest in the swim has clearly waned.

While Ruzicka, a resident of Island Park for more than 50 years, is sad to see the swim go, he hasn’t heard many complaints about the cancellation. Asked if it would take place next year, he said, “Unless I have a big push for it, then no. Nobody’s talking about, ‘Why aren’t you doing it?’ They’re not disappointed that we canceled it.”